Red and Blue
by Mathais
Summary: Justin/Mack. Two Rangers meet through the agency of a mutual friend. Written for prsw22.
1. One Meeting

Story Title: Red and Blue

Chapter Title: One Meeting

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Power Rangers

Warnings: Pre-slash

Pairings: Justin/Mack pre-slash

Summary: Two Rangers meet through the agency of a mutual friend.

List of 22: 9 ~ hallways

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of the various Power Rangers series. Saban or Disney own either; I'm not sure of the legalities of the Disney-era shows.

Notes: Written for prsw22.

**OoOoO**

Mack sighed in irritation as he looked at his watch. Rose had asked him to meet her at school, but he'd been sitting in this hallway for a good half an hour with her nowhere in sight. He was so _bored_.

A guy in blue across from him looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow. "Waiting for someone?"

"Yeah," Mack huffed. "Rose Ortiz? She said she'd meet me at 3."

The guy snorted. "Her class doesn't end till 4." At the indignation which spread across Mack's face, a smile tugged at his lips. "Yeah, she'll be a while. How do you know Rose? She didn't tell me she a boyfriend."

Unwittingly, a blush crossed Mack's face as he yelped, "No, not a boyfriend! We, uh, worked together a year ago doing, uh—"

The guy's eyes widened. "Oh, OH! You're one of the Power Rangers from Operation Overdrive! Mackenzie Hartford, right?"

"Call me Mack," he said as he cleared his throat. "And you are?"

"Justin Stewart." The guy offered a surprisingly boyish grin. "Thanks for keeping Rose safe for me."

"No problem." Mack paused and then stared harder at Justin. "And, are you...?

Justin's eyes widened again, and he stumbled over his words in his rush to get them out. "No, no, no! We're working together on several robotics projects!" He shook his head wildly. "We're not together!"

"Oh," Mack stated as the two fell into an uncomfortable silence. Mack's eyes then caught sight of the book Justin held in his hand. "Is that Harry Potter?"

Justin's fingers twitched as if he was resisting the urge to do something to the book. "Uh, yeah," Justin ducked his head, using his long bangs to hide his sudden blush. "It's a... guilty pleasure."

"What'd you think of the last book then?"

"Deus ex machina," was Justin's quick and honest reply. "I felt that a lot of things came out of nowhere for that book."

"No way!" Mack shook his head, shock and appall coloring his voice. "I thought that it was very well written!"

"Then what about the Deathly Hollows? They weren't even _mentioned_ in the previous books!" Justin countered.

"Well, yeah," Mack admitted, "but what Rowling did with—"

And then Justin moved across the corridor to sit next to Mack and continue their talk, voices growing louder and more vibrant as they got into the discussion. The pair argued their points with enthusiasm, wild gestures and pointed accusations drawing the stares of the innocent passersby. Both were so into it that by the time students began to file out into the hallway around them, they didn't even notice their passing.

Rose peeked out of the door's window, hoping she would find what she wanted. When she saw the two of them chatting animatedly, she grinned. Mack and Justin were two of the most important guys in her life, and she just wanted them to get along. So she hoped that Mack didn't mind that she called him there an hour early and took advantage of the fact that Justin would lounge outside of her classes to read when he could.

Happy with her success, Rose whistled a cheery tune as she packed up.


	2. Two Texts

Story Title: Red and Blue

Chapter Title: Two Texts

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Power Rangers

Warnings: Pre-slash

Pairings: Justin/Mack pre-slash

Summary: Two Rangers meet through the agency of a mutual friend.

List of 22: 8 ~ friendship

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of the various Power Rangers series. Saban or Disney own either; I'm not sure of the legalities of the Disney-era shows.

Notes: Written for prsw22.

**OoOoO**

Justin's phone rang in the middle of a lecture, but he ignored it in favor of pointing toward the board, explaining to the addled freshmen exactly what purpose this particular chip had. Though he continued to focus on his class, he kept one eye on the clock, and when it hit ten minutes to the hour, Justin gave a small smile and announced, "All right, that's it for today. Don't forget your homework is due tomorrow at five."

The hustle and bustle of the class as they stood and stretched was music to Justin's ears. He began to disconnect his laptop from the projector but made sure to field questions from those who asked. He continued to talk to one especially bright student as he walked back to the office he shared with various other post-docs jockeying for positions as professors. Justin sighed and slipped his laptop onto his desk when the student finally left.

He was reaching for his water bottle when cell phone buzzed. Grabbing it instead, Justin slid it open and took a look inside.

"Huh, a new text." Opening it, Justin took one look and smirked.

_"Saw this and thought of you."_

A giant plush bear, a huge monstrosity that looked like someone had haphazardly dumped several colors of paint on it and then doused it in blue for good measure, stared back at him next to Mack's cheesy smile.

"Jerk," he murmured. "That's Tommy, you idiot." Of course, Mack probably didn't realize it, as, aside from the group that they'd worked with, Operation Overdrive hadn't attended any Ranger get-togethers yet. "Except for the blue, I guess."

Justin tapped his chin in thought, mulling over this image. Finally, a small grin broke on out on his face, and he immediately gathered his stuff. Another post-doc, slipping into the room, took one look at him and flinched.

"Justin...?"

"Oh, don't mind me." Justin's grin turned into a smile that did little to alleviate fear. "I'm just on my way out."

As the door closed behind him, the post-doc shivered.

**OoOoO**

Mark dozed lightly in the yard. The air was warm and pleasant, and the bruises from his last adventure with his dad were finally fading, so he let the gentle sway of his hammock lull him into a state of semi-consciousness. Happily fuzzy and unburdened, Mack was content to let the afternoon pass by.

His cell phone, nestled on his chest beside his latest novel, suddenly started vibrating. Yelping straight out of his half-awake state, Mack overturned on his bed and slammed into the ground.

Granted, the hammock was low for just this reason, but he still smarted from the fall.

Stupid gravity.

Mack grumbled as he whipped out his cell and stared at it. It was a text from Justin. Without even thinking about it, he opened it.

_"How about this then?"_

Mack's jaw dropped as he saw Justin cheerfully holding a Red Overdrive Ranger plushie. Well, what had once been one at any rate. It was now Rainbow Overdrive Ranger, streaked with all of his team's colors.

Wielding a whip.

With a fedora.

His face _burned_.

Oh, no. This slight could not go unavenged.

He cackled as he returned to the mansion. Spencer paused from his cleaning with a worried look on his face.

"Oh dear," was all he could say.


	3. Three Watermelons

Story Title: Red and Blue

Chapter Title: Three Watermelons

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Power Rangers

Warnings: Pre-slash

Pairings: Justin/Mack pre-slash

Summary: Two Rangers meet through the agency of a mutual friend.

List of 22: 22 ~ watermelon

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of the various Power Rangers series. Saban or Disney owns either; I'm not sure of the legalities of the Disney-era shows.

Notes: Written for prsw22.

**OoOoO**

"Think fast." Mack grinned as he launched his projectile. Justin was quick to respond though, spinning on his seat and catching what was being thrown at him with ease.

Justin smirked as he held out the object. "A watermelon keychain?"

"I figured you wanted something new," he commented as he plopped down on one of the seats that belong to the other staff in the room. More than one of Justin's fellow post-docs had come back to see Mack in their seat, but few complained.

"Thanks!" Justin smiled in response and added it to his growing collection.

The keychain was one of many Mack brought back for Justin as he traveled, each one different from the last. Normally they just said where he'd been, but on repeat destinations he just grabbed whatever caught his eye that he thought Justin would like.

He was glad he chose fine with this one and delighted in Justin's smile.

"Where'd you go this time?" Justin spun around in his chair and asked, complete with cheesy finger guns that had Mack in stitches.

"Texas, for a conference," Mack explained once he regained his breath. He went into detail about his dad's trip to an archeology conference that he tagged along with and explained the new stuff he learned. Justin listened with rapt attention that would have made Mack feel self-conscious if it wasn't Justin.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun."

"It was. I love travelling with my dad." It still felt funny on his tongue, even months after he turned into a real boy.

"Yeah," Justin said softly, eyes distant. Mack worried a bit until Justin visibly shook himself and went rummaging through his desk. He absently said, "I got you something too," and emerged, triumphant, with something that he then tossed at him.

Unfortunately, his reflexes weren't working that day, because instead of catching it, it instead hit him in the forehead.

"Ow!" he grumbled and rubbed his forehead.

"Like that hurt," Justin scoffed.

Yeah, it didn't _really_ hurt, but it was the principle of the thing! Mack still made a big show of his fake pain at any rate as he moaned and grumbled, which only made Justin laugh harder at him, as he picked up what had dropped to the ground. When his eyes finally focused, he gaped.

"A watermelon warrior!" He waved said plushie at Justin, who smirked with an unrepentant grin. "Where the heck did you find a watermelon warrior plushie?" he demanded.

"I have my sources," he said in what was his attempt to look mysterious. Mack personally thought it made him look a little constipated, but he wasn't about to comment on that. As they bickered back and forth, Mack wondered where would be the best place to put the plushie. After the escalating text debacle that ended when, instead of a text, Justin had somehow shipped oversized plushies of the entire Overdrive team dressed as fantasy classes (he personally wanted to know what Rose would do to him when she saw what he'd done to the Pink one) and he'd admitted defeat, Justin never failed to deluge him with plushies of all sizes. He thought this one might go well next to the onion knight.

"Mack. Mack!" He suddenly came back into focus when Justin snapped his fingers in front of him.

"Sorry, spaced out for a minute," Mack said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

"Aw, am I being too boring of a host?" Justin mock-pouted.

Mack laughed in response and moved onto another topic, at least until Justin said, "On the subject of watermelons..."

**OoOoO**

Justin had never quite gotten to do this in Angel Grove, where he had neither the money nor the opportunity, but he had both now, and he intended to take advantage.

Mack just thought he was nuts.

"Seriously?"

Justin looked up from his adjustments with a small glare. "For the last time, yes."

"I mean, I know I agreed, but..."

"I promise it'll be fine."

"Won't we hurt someone?"

"This field's deserted."

"Won't we get into trouble?"

Justin snorted. "Of course not. No one patrols up here, and we'll be done and out in minutes."

"And what happens if we miss?"

"You're a Power Ranger," he said, smacking Mack's chest. "When have you ever missed when it mattered?"

Mack immediately backed up a step, hands up. "Whoa, who said that I'd be the one firing it?"

"Wuss," Justin accused but couldn't quite keep the humor out of his tone. "Here, let me." He set himself behind the device and readied himself, tossing a backhanded comment over his shoulder. "This is what I spent college physics learning," he said over his shoulder with a small grin.

Justin's grin faded when he saw that Mack seemed to be rocking some serious melancholy over there. He looked so lost in his own world that, instead of preparing, Justin walked over and asked, "Are you all right, dude?"

"Is college that great?" Mack asked quietly. "I mean, I've just been travelling around with my dad, but..."

Justin honestly didn't know how to respond. He'd spent so long advancing farther and farther on the education track that going to college always seemed like a logical choice, though he knew of others who had opted out. "It's not for everyone," Justin admitted slowly. "Ultimately, it's your decision, but I liked college. It was challenging." Challenging working with classes that were only just beginning to catch up to the reality of a world with Power Rangers and the technology that it implied when he had been using and studying said technology for years. "It worked for me, but that's something you have to decide for yourself."

Mack nodded. "All right then." He seemed to brush the subject away, striding up confidently to where Justin had left the device. "Are we doing this or what?"

Justin merely looked at him, searching for whether Mack really seemed to get it or was just avoiding the subject. He decided it was fine, though, and walked next to him. "A change of heart, huh?"

"Well, let's just say that you're convincing," Mack said with a grin.

"You want to shoot it then?" asked Justin, hand sweeping in a grand gesture with a cheesy smile.

Mack laughed. "Sure, sure."

Justin couldn't keep the surprise out of his face as he directed Mack in the proper way to activate the device. Soon, Mack was sitting comfortably at its back, hand on the release mechanism.

"And firing in 3, 2, 1..." Justin countdown.

"Shoot!" Mack called and released.

The slingshot fired its payload into the sky, a frozen watermelon arcing gracefully in the air to splatter against the ground.

The ground that had been thoughtfully covered with a tarp.

A tarp clean enough to eat off of.

But Justin wasn't focused on this. He instead watched Mack, the way that his eyes lit with glee. The way that a manic grin brightened his face at something like this. And he felt his heart warm some, a grin crossing his own face in response.

"Yeah!" Mack crowed, pumping his fist into the air. "Bullseye!"

Justin laughed long and hard. Wrapping an arm around Mack's shoulders, he said, "C'mon, let's go!"

With one final glance down at the watermelon waiting below, Justin steered Mack toward the stairs, smile splitting his face.


End file.
